Breakdown of Dieses Gefühl von Ruhe hilft uns, sparsam mit unserer Energie umzugehen.
mit
with
unser
our
dieses
this
helfen
to help
uns
us
von
of
die Energie
the energy
das Gefühl
the feeling
die Ruhe
the calm
sparsam
sparingly
umgehen
to handle
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Questions & Answers about Dieses Gefühl von Ruhe hilft uns, sparsam mit unserer Energie umzugehen.
Why is dieses used instead of diese or dies in Dieses Gefühl?
Gefühl is a neuter noun in the nominative case (it’s the subject of the sentence). German demonstrative pronouns must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. For a neuter singular noun in nominative, the correct form is dieses.
Why do we say Gefühl von Ruhe instead of Gefühl Ruhe or Gefühl der Ruhe?
You can express “feeling of calm” in two main ways:
- Gefühl der Ruhe (using the genitive case, a bit more formal or literary)
- Gefühl von Ruhe (using a prepositional phrase with von
- dative, more colloquial)
Both are correct. Here, von Ruhe simply sounds more conversational.
- dative, more colloquial)
What is the role of uns in hilft uns?
The verb helfen always takes its object in the dative case. uns is the dative pronoun for “us,” so “helps us” translates directly as hilft uns.
Why is there a comma before sparsam?
In German, infinitive clauses introduced by zu are separated from the main clause by a comma. The phrase sparsam mit unserer Energie umzugehen is such an infinitive clause (with zu inside umzugehen), so you place a comma before it.
Why is umzugehen written with zu inside the verb?
Umgehen is a separable-prefix verb (prefix um- + verb gehen). When you form a zu-infinitive of a separable verb, zu is inserted between the prefix and the verb stem:
um- + zu + gehen → umzugehen
Why do we use mit unserer Energie and why is it unserer and not unsere?
The verb umgehen requires the preposition mit (“to deal with”), and mit always takes the dative case. Energie is a feminine noun, so the dative singular of unsere is unserer, giving mit unserer Energie.
What part of speech is sparsam and how does it function here?
Sparsam is an adjective meaning “economical” or “frugal.” In this sentence it’s used adverbially to describe how we umgehen with our energy. German adjectives can be deployed like adverbs without extra endings when they modify a verb.
How is the word order determined inside sparsam mit unserer Energie umzugehen?
In a German infinitive clause the usual order is:
- Manner adverb (sparsam)
- Prepositional object (mit unserer Energie)
- Infinitive verb (umzugehen)
This follows the general pattern of “manner → (prepositional object) → verb.”